One went all guns blazing throughout the tournament. Another scored a match-winning knock in the T20 World Cup final. India’s two architects of ending the ICC trophy drought with T20 World Cup triumph — Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli — are now the biggest concern ahead of the India vs Australia Test series. In the Test season that began in September, Virat and Rohit have been poor, to say the least. With the Border Gavaskar Trophy win now the minimum requirement to reach the WTC Final 2025, their form is a concern for BCCI.
Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara are not around anymore. Hence, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will play crucial roles if India are to beat Australia in the India vs Australia Test series. However, the two architects of India’s triumph in the T20 World Cup are now the villains of India’s Test series loss against New Zealand. India lost a Test series at home after 12 years and also two back-to-back Test losses at home.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma: The villains?
After skipping the Duleep Trophy, which should have been part of the basic requirement to get back to red-ball cricket, Kohli and Rohit struggled almost instantaneously. Ro-Ko were dismissed for identical 6 runs in their first Test innings of the season against Bangladesh.
In the Test season so far, Virat Kohli has averaged 26.71 in 8 innings with three single-digit scores. Rohit Sharma’s form is even worse. India captain is averaging 13.00 in this Test season with 6 single-digit scores in eight innings even though he has scored a fifty in the other two innings. It does not boost confidence before India vs Australia Test series.
Virat Kohli vs Rohit Sharma in current Test season
| Player | Inns | Runs | Avg | 50/100 | Single Digit | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | 8 | 104 | 13.00 | 1/0 | 6 | 52 |
| Virat Kohli | 8 | 187 | 26.71 | 1/0 | 3 | 70 |
Ro-Ko in IND vs NZ Series
As fans moved past the Bangladesh series after two convincing wins, IND vs NZ Test series is where they imagined their star players would return to form. What happened next was a shocker! India folded for 46 in the Bengaluru Test, their lowest in India ever. Rohit Sharma was the first to fall for 2 and Kohli fell for a duck.
While Kohli and Rohit redeemed themselves with a half-century after the Bengaluru blues, it was temporary. After struggling against lateral movement in Bengaluru, the two cricket superstars now give poor accounts of how to play spin. Both were dismissed in the first innings of the Pune Test in a spectacular fashion.
Rohit before giving away his wicket to Mitchell Santner in the second innings, failed to read Tim Southee’s wobble seam delivery that shattered his stumps.
Virat Kohli did one better. He tried to sweep a Mitchell Santner delivery which was a full toss. But missed the line and embarrassed himself. Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar called that “the worst shot of his career.”
“Oh dear! Virat will know himself that he has just played the worst shot of his career to get out. Got to feel for him…coz as always he came out with solid & honest intent,” Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted.
India vs Australia Test
The IND vs NZ Test series was supposed to be the preparation camp for the Border Gavaskar Trophy. But nobody in their wildest dreams had expected a Test series loss. Now, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma need to relearn their skills before India vs Australia Test series.
Remember, India have won the last two Border Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia. They did not need Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the most part. But now that Rohit-Virat will play the full series, the onus will be on them. In what could be their last tour to Australia in Test, Ro-Ko need to find its form and lead the young batting lineup, especially in the absence of Pujara and Rahane.
With their struggles against pace and spin, Ro-Ko will be in serious trouble against Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon — the entire Australia bowling attack. They are now vulnerable.
Ro-Ko in Australia
| Player | Inns | Runs | Avg | 50/100 | Single Digit | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rohit Sharma | 14 | 408 | 31.38 | 3/0 | 5 | 63 |
| Virat Kohli | 25 | 1352 | 54.08 | 4/6 | 6 | 169 |
India squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, R Jadeja, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed
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